TFP: Two Can Keep a Secret
by Lung Tien Lien
Summary: NO-2215 swore he'd never tell. (Songfic Written for The Hostile Takeover's "Theme Writing Challenge")


_**Transformers Prime**_

" **Two Can Keep a Secret"**

 **(Disclaimer: I don't own anything of** _ **Transformers Prime**_ **or the** _ **Transformers**_ **franchise in general. I also don't own the song "Secret"; it belongs to The Pierces.)**

 **Note: A '\' section marks a change in scene, though the point of view remains the same, and the italicized, quotation-marked lines outside of the flashback scene are song lyrics. Also, this episode is kind of AU and takes place just before the main part of the episode "Shadowzone".**

 ***Glossary**

 **\- "Solar Cycle": The Cybertronian equivalent of about a twenty-four hour Earth day**

 **\- "Groon": The Cybertronian equivalent of about an hour**

 **0000**

In general, the Vehicons onboard the _Nemesis_ found most human music mildly interesting at best or cruel and unusual death to their audio-receptors at worst. But not ST-3V3. When he could get away with it, he always set playing in his processor one of the tunes he downloaded from that oh-so-wonderful (and sometimes terrifying) world called the "internet". At this moment, actually, a catchy little ditty bounced along in his mind while he strolled down the hall leading from the med-bay to the bridge.

" _Got a secret,_

 _Can you keep it?_

 _Swear this one you'll save._

 _Better lock it_

 _In your pocket…"_

\

 _ST-3V3 stood near the back of the energon storage room with another Vehicon, checking their totals of inventory – two different numbers – against each other and then double- and triple-checking each of their mathematical tallies. N0-2215, the other bot in question, had a reputation for random processor-shorts, which ST-3V3 suspected caused the discrepancy in the numbers. None of the other Decepticons knew why said shorts occurred; no medic ever found, through any method, the source of the problem. Eventually, everyone considered his glitches unavoidable facts in life on the ship, and normally, the officers in charge never put NO-2215 on any assignment more complicated than, say, cleaning detail. However, for some reason, on this solar cycle he ended up alongside ST-3V3,_ trying _to count energon cubes._

 _About halfway through NO-2215's data pad, ST-3V3 found what he looked for and said, "Okay, here it is." He gestured for his fellow to stand beside him and look on. "Right here your tally suddenly jumps backwards from two thousand five hundred and thirteen to thousand four hundred and eighty-five."_

" _Ah! You're right!" NO-2215 rubbed the back of his helm. "Sorry; must've been one of my short-outs that did it."_

 _ST-3V3 shook his helm, trying to keep his voice less exasperated than he felt. "It's all right; you're working with me so I can catch errors like this." He pressed some buttons on the data pad. "There. The numbers are fixed now."_

" _How did I get assigned to energon inventory anyway?"_

" _No idea. Commander Starscream's kept to himself after what happened in the Arctic, Megatron hasn't given any new orders, and there's no telling what all Soundwave's been doing."_

" _Mostly monitoring human communications, or so I've heard."_

 _Of course, what ST-3V3_ didn't _say was that he was one of the few Vehicons – possibly the_ only _one – who actually believed in Starscream's competence before_ and _after Megatron beat his Lieutenant to near death for trying to offline Optimus Prime._

Megatron's more the fool than he names Lord Starscream; back in the Arctic, we could've won the war if he let Starscream's missiles fly. We had the Prime down for the count, and yet Megatron's Pit-blasted _arrogance_ got in the way. You know, one of these solar cycles, Lord Starscream will outdo Megatron and Optimus Prime _both._ I know he will.

 _Then, right at that moment, NO-2215 suddenly stiffened and his optics went blank, his movement cutting off ST-3V3's train of thought. A few seconds later, the glitched Vehicon relaxed, shook his helm, and gave his work-partner a somewhat puzzled look. "So, what's our tally for energon cubes?"_

 _ST-3V3 let out a tired intake. "You'll find out when we give our report to Soundwave. Come on; we're done here."_

 _The two Vehicons turned to leave, but NO-2215 went through another short-out, and they stopped just before rounding the corner of a stack of energon cubes. At that moment, the doors to the storage room opened and Starscream himself walked in. ST-3V3 and NO-2215 would have properly saluted and given him their tally once they started walking again, but Starscream, talking to himself, said something that made ST-3V3 freeze and put a staying, silencing servo over his fellow Vehicon's mouth._

" _My own resurrected warrior..."_

 _Peeking only_ just _around the corner of the cube pile, ST-3V3 watched Starscream walk over to the energon processor, insert a cube, and let the machine do its work. Soon, he took a jar-full of liquid energon and drank about a third of it in one gulp. Then, he shifted, and ST-3V3 saw the telltale purple glow of Dark Energon – the morbidly fascinating and undeniably dangerous Blood of Unicron._

But where did he get it, I wonder?

 _Letting out a nefarious chuckle, Starscream took up the Dark Energon shard and looked at it, his optics burning with desirous, wicked fire. "Megatron's not the_ only _one who can raise an undead army."_

 _NO-2215 began to make a sound, but ST-3V3 ducked back behind the pile and, one digit raised for silence, clamped his servo harder around his comrade's mouth._

 _On the other side of the piles of cubes, Starscream snapped, "Who's there?"_

 _Both of the Vehicons held perfectly still and kept silent, not even daring to make or let out any intake. ST-3V3's spark nearly jumped out of his chassis when he felt NO-2215 tense up again, and, moving with all the quietness he could muster, he reached down and pinched a couple of tubes in his comrade's neck cables. He learned that little trick from Knock Out in the med-bay, where the medic used the pinch to shut up an injured Vehicon who would not. Stop. Talking. Thus, when NO-2215 tried to speak again, no sound came out, yet ST-3V3 still needed to motion to him to calm the frag down and_ not _fragging_ move _._

 _After a few moments more, Starscream muttered, "Hearing things. Useless paranoia; I've wasted enough time already."_

 _The glow of the Dark Energon subsided and disappeared, its owner walking towards and soon out through the storage room door. Only when the Commander's ped-steps faded down the hall did the two Vehicons relax._

That was too close.

 _Before NO-2215 could do anything, ST-3V3 turned to him and said in a low voice, "You remember everything we just saw here?" When the Vehicon nodded, ST-3V3 continued with, "Okay, look, I'm sorry about the pinch thing, but we almost got scrapped because of you."_

 _NO-2215 gave him a look indicating that he didn't understand._

" _Think about it. If Commander Starscream saw us in here when he pulled out that Dark Energon shard, he would've offlined both of us without thinking twice." While confident in Starscream's abilities, ST-3V3 held no illusions about how his Lord dealt with such obvious loose ends. "I'll bet you drill-bits to bolts that Megatron doesn't even know that he has that shard, though," ST-3V3 shot a wary look towards the ceiling, "Soundwave surely might. Anyway, unless we, specifically, are somehow called on to testify about what he said in here, I'm not saying a word about it, and if you want to keep living and get that cable fixed, you'll forget everything about what happened this solar cycle. Deal?"_

 _NO-2215 made an indignant motion, but ST-3V3 stood firm and asked, "Deal?" again in the same stalwart tone. Finally, the other Vehicon gave a nod of assent, and they both left the storage room and headed towards the med-bay. They reached it soon enough, finding the room empty except for Knock Out, who was cleaning and organizing his medical equipment. He turned to them as the door closed, saying in a bored voice, "What is it?"_

 _ST-3V3 began to speak, but there came a small popping sound, after which NO-2215's whole frame suddenly seized and he collapsed to the floor. In a few strides, Knock Out crossed from his position to the now-twitching Vehicon and shoved ST-3V3 out of the way. However, only nano-kliks after the medic put two digits on NO-2215's neck cables, the Vehicon went into one final, frantic spasm and then lay still, a few droplets of energon seeping out from under his helm._

 _\_

"… _you're taking this one_

 _To the grave."_

The med-bay went under quarantine for a few groons, and no one except the bots already inside – Knock Out, ST-3V3, and the freshly offlined NO-2215 – could enter. Fortunately, the quarantine lifted before half of a solar cycle passed by, for Knock Out determined with absolute certainty that NO-2215's demise stemmed from a pinched wire that caused some sort of mechanical aneurism, not anything contagious.

Later, ST-3V3 silently thanked Primus that his drone-type mask could make no expression when he came onboard the _Nemesis'_ bridge; he knew already that Soundwave still stood at his post at the ship's main console. Before the Vehicon could situate himself in order to man one of the secondary consoles, the Communications' Officer looked in his direction. ST-3V3 only glanced Soundwave's way long enough to respectfully acknowledge his presence, and then the Vehicon turned away and began logging in to the _Nemesis'_ mainframe.

He felt Soundwave continue to watch him for a long time.

" _Better show you better know_

 _You won't tell what I said."_

In all honesty, ST-3V3 never held anything against NO-2215; the Vehicon may have been glitchy, but he was a good-natured fellow. Unfortunately, even though he agreed to forget about Starscream's treachery, those unpreventable short-outs meant danger for him and ST-3V3 both, and the latter's survival instinct trumped the ties of camaraderie.

 _That extra pinched wire made all the difference._ _Sorry, friend, but like my observations of Lord Starscream have taught me, I, too, know_ how _and_ when _to tie up my own loose ends._

" _Because two can keep a secret_

 _If one of them is dead."_


End file.
